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Lingo

Lingo is a residential VoIP provider that provides home phone service for international and nationwide calling. Lingo plans come with a many features including, free calling to other Lingo subscribers, and even the option to keep your same number. With Lingo, clients can make calls using their existing high-speed Internet connections to receive clear, reliable phone service. Lingo also offers bigger offers for clients that want to sign up for contracts.

Lingo Unlimited

Basic Info

Key Features

Lingo Editorial Review

Whether you are looking for nationwide calling or worldwide calling, Lingo is the provider that gets the job done. They offer FREE shipping, activation and adapter which makes switching to Lingo an easy choice. Get month to month service or contracted service. You can use your internet connection as your phone line and get unlimited calling nationwide, in Canada and Puerto Rico.

Based on 48 Reviews

Poor customer service

Posted on:February 8th, 2018by Yulissa

Horrible experience its been 3 weeks that I ported my number from Vonage and my phone still not working porplerly. Call customer service 6 times and they keep on telling me they will call me next day they are working on it. What type of company is this that they dont know what to do to fix my phone. Horrible horrible experience. Working on getting another company to transfer my number again.

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

3

Price:

5

Reliability:

3

Features:

5

Overall:

4

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

port of number takes 28+ days

Posted on:January 13th, 2016by sfwright

So far the port of my number has taken 28 days. I just called Lingo Customer Care and was told that the number will be ported on Jan 19, a total of 34 days. When I call, the recorded message says that my call will be transferred to a customer service representative but then the phone hangs up. This morning when I called, I was on the phone for about 5 minutes while they tried to sell me a bunch of stuff so they could transfer my call to another company. They never even asked what I was calling about. I finally hung up and called back. I get an auto response when I send email but I never get an answer to my questions. Given the number of complaints that I have seen on the internet, I'm beginning to think I have made a huge mistake in becoming a customer of Lingo. They don't seem to value their customers

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

NEVER

Posted on:November 25th, 2015by matpl

HORRIBLE company; would NEVER recommend this company!!! I was a loyal customer for years - wish I had cancelled long before. Even when I cancelled they wanted their old junk router back and I had to pay the postage. They would not refund any of the overage that I had paid

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

2

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

3

Overall:

1.6

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Horrible Service to long term customer - Lingo

Posted on:September 8th, 2014by 420sam

I've been a customer of Lingo for 7 years and have been relatively happy. I work from home so phone service is critical. Sound quality hasn't been the greatest and recently calls started dropping. I was told at one point a few months back that I needed a new adapter, but then they changed their mind and said it was a port issue.
I recently experienced a full outage and was told my adapter needed to be replaced. I was told at the time it would be 1-2 days before it would be shipped and they had no options to expedite or overnight ship a replace. 4 business days later and they still can't tell me when an adapter would be out.
To make matters worse, and shame on me for not being a more observant consumer, their annual plan (which I've been on for years) is more expensive than their monthly plan! Couple that with they charge fees and taxes on the annual bill and you still receive a monthly bill of fees and taxes!! How do they get away with this! Took days and multiple phone calls to try to get an explanation, which was said very quickly in broken english, and when I asked if it could be emailed to me so I could try to understand, I was told that would be another request!!
My foolish loyalty has likely cost me money over the years and much recent frustration. Needless to say, I'm switching providers, I'll have an adapter overnighted to me and the price is way cheaper! Now to see how much trouble I'll have getting my refund! Lesson learned...always check prices before renewing plans/contracts and being a long term loyal customer means nothing anymore!

Lingo Inc (owned by Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc) has repeatedly refused and ignored my requests to stop charging my debit card, as I do not even use their service. I let my mom use my card to pay them once, months ago, and they charge me every month, despite my consistent requests to stop.
Now, I'll have to cancel my card and file a civil claim against them. They also somehow raised their "taxes and fees" from just a couple dollars to almost $30 over this past month. I see online that many people have had this same issue with them, but they continue these illegal practices without any repentance whatsoever (maybe because they're a multinational and think US laws do not apply to them)

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

lingo - Don't trust them at

Posted on:February 28th, 2014by JJasTech

I was a customer for almost a decade with them and moved my service to a better provider. Then the called and said I need to pay for modem I told them I would like to send it back however they told me this wasn't an option and I needed to pay for them modem

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

NEVER Use LINGO

Posted on:December 12th, 2013by JoshLRisley

They are so bad that I am reporting them to the better business bureau. They turned off my company's phones BY MISTAKE, which they have acknowledged in an email, then guaranteed it would be on by the end of the business day. That was Monday. It is Thursday afternoon, I have called in 10+ times, and the phones are STILL NOT ON!! They are costing me hundreds of dollars per day that my phone is off, and not one person in their company cares at all. They are so pathetic that it almost seems like you're being "punked." I cannot emphasize enough how terrible, unaccountable, uncaring, dysfunctional, and incompetent this company is

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

4

Price:

1

Reliability:

4

Features:

2

Overall:

2.4

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Lingo expensive overseas cell calls and poor customer service

Posted on:August 2nd, 2013by EAGLE172

I had them for about 8 years, service seemed to be OK. Their modem finally died and they gave me new Linksys modem, a huge difference in sound quality, why did they leave me for so long on that old modem! The final straw was the calls to foreign cell phones with huge monthly bills ($200-$300), I found an alternate VOIP provider with 3c a minute to UK cell phones so I switched. They sent me an e-mail saying I had to send the modem back to them within 14 days and they gave me an address, so I sent it back, when I tracked it with Fedex it had been re-directed to a new address because they had moved. A week later they sent me a UPS return label - for a different address. Next thing they had hit my account for $75 because they did not get the modem. I thought about wasting my time calling customer service but decided I had enough. Note my new VOIP provider also has a lot more features than Lingo and costs considerably less

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

2

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1.2

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

LINGO service is a disaster

Posted on:June 8th, 2013by angeo123

I joined LINGO because of some customer service call for $9.95 for 6 months offer. But when I called up to join LINGO they didn't even know about the offer. Somehow they tried persuading me to join with some contract but at last they agreed (after consulting with the manager as they say)to give away the offer. There it started the disaster. I used to keep getting billed for $23.99 with taxes and fees for $12.99 every month and I had to call them up to refund the $14.00 they charged extra. And they credit that as a credit memo which will be applied next month. I had to keep calling them every month and do the same. After 3 months of constant creeping, they applied the discount to my account and somehow they lost the credit card details from my account. Once the next Invoice was generated (even though the due date is June 12 2013) they suspended my account due to non payment. Oh what more to say, I had a difficult time with Customer service guys and decided to get rid of this crap. I am not sure what more disasters are on my way, as I have to send the device back within 14 days and pay money for the service I haven't used.
Moral : STAY AWAY FORM THESE LINGO GUYS

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

2

Reliability:

2

Features:

4

Overall:

2

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Lingo is not what you are looking for

Posted on:June 5th, 2013by fmoehl

The phoneline had a humming for years and I used it less and less despite the good features Lingo provided. Custoemr Service could not resolve humming. Lingo had outages every so often, at the end my service did not work, the online account said my payments were not current, customer service could not figure out why this incorrect information was posted. So I caceled. Lingo told me there was no termination fee and the payment already made was the last one.
Now they charged me a equipment return fee, when I complained, the customer service told me I was told, which was not correct, they also said it's always been part of the general terms/conditions, then the story changed they changed their general terms and conditions. They would not let me talk to a supervisor and hung up on me.
Yes, Lingo is this kind of company

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

4

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1.6

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Bad Service + unstable internet with Lingo

Posted on:April 29th, 2013by Erikku

Worked fine, but made home internet unstable. Customer service was terrible, raised price partway through. They cancelled service when debit card # changed number without any contact. Also, watch out for $75 charge if you don't return equipment when you quit. It's buried in the contract terms, they won't mention until after you've been charged

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

2

Price:

1

Reliability:

2

Features:

1

Overall:

1.4

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

The Worst Service I have Experienced

Posted on:April 2nd, 2013by MJ_81

I would not wish this phone service on my worst enemy. I would definitely not use this as a primary telephone contact account. They made it almost impossible to leave with my number. The customer is never the priority with this company and it is impossible to speak with a representative in a position of authority.
Not one problem I encountered with this company was resolved to my satisfaction..... Until I was able to take my business elsewhere - and they even made that hard

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

3

Price:

1

Reliability:

2

Features:

2

Overall:

1.8

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Stay away from it!!

Posted on:December 2nd, 2012by ranadip acharya

I took the service on September with their so-called promotion. The reps never mentioned that their cycle starts at the 1st of month and ends on the last day whenever you take. She mentioned that there is no call limit at all. I took the service on 30th and ended up messing the promotional period and paying 9 bucks for no call. After some hassle I recovered 5$ but another horror story started from the 1st month itself. I started receiving mail that my account may get suspended due to overusage. So, when I mailed back saying I was told that there is no usage limit, I received a mail stating that those messages are automated and I do not need to worry about it. Still they decided to suspend the service on 3rd November without any usage on that month. When I called the customer service they reactivated the account and finally I was told that there is a 2100 minute limit on this plan. Surprise!! without any action on my part (and any usage at all) they terminated the service on the same day and still started demanding the payment for November. There was no usage on that month and they terminated the service and asks for the fee for that month!! So, you can imagine what kind of immoral policy they adopt to rob off the customers. I disputed their payment for that month and with all their mails in my inbox I am pretty sure I can prove that they do not deserve payment for that month. So, my advice, please stay away from it!!!! Unfortunately, I learned it the hard way!

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Lingo is just terrible and pathetic Customer service

Posted on:November 1st, 2012by kp0140

This has to be one of the WORST telephone experiences I've ever experienced...
I signed up for service in September of 2012. It was one moth trial for $4.35. Most of the time it was difficult to get calls in and out. The tech support reps told me that my internet connection was not fast enough to support the service. I'm using near the top tier cable package at 9MB that my local provider offers. At the same time, speed results show more than adequate bandwidth.
Next month I canceled the service because of poor result. They take forever to pick up the call ..
When I canceled the service they charged me $37 saying I was in monthly agreement and blah blah and customer representative just started to showing me his Attitude that this all are valid charge and I am gonna have to pay in full that day... I had really bad Experience with this company I wouldnt recommend this service ever

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

3

Sound Quality:

4

Price:

4

Reliability:

4

Features:

4

Overall:

3.8

Would Recommend to a friend.

Lingo: Reshoring Support

Posted on:April 22nd, 2012by rossi141

Strange that this should say that Lingo was founded in 2005 - I have had lingo service since 2004 (must have been one of the first I guess). In the beginning, it was horrible. The phones were most unreliable, and the call quality was questionable. I stuck with it, as at the time it was the only provider to offer me fixed rate monthly plan to call my relatives in other countries. Some of the issues were my own with my network. The most annoying part was that the support was outsourced to India (or somewhere close), and was absolutely horrible..!!! They were slow, they had no idea when it comes to troubleshooting - they were polite however. Any time I called in, becasue my service was not working, they just had me reboot. It would always work, but they could not tell me what the root cause of the issue was so that I would not have to reboot.I had a noise issue on the line for the past 3 years that made it almost unusable. I personally troublehot down to the VOIP Modem. I kept calling back in going over the same 3 steps that thee seem to know (plug directly into cable modem, plug old analogue handset directly into it, reboot) and getting no where. Requrests to escallate were not granted. Finally I got someone who had a clue, and sent me a new VOIP modem (for free), and the noise that I had been experiencing for the past 3 years is now fixed.
Latest issue is that my new VOIP modem shows the incorrect time. I have been hesitant to call in, because of the support service, however, my wife got the better of me. So I called in expecting to be given the runaround as normal for a few hours. I must say that I was plesantly surprised. It seems that the outsourcing has been insourced (maybe they have been heeding all the cried of woe from their customers). I spoke to a very nice lady in Canada who clearly knew what she was talking about, and told me that support has been pulled back into USA/Canada. For this reason, I have given 3 stars (would have been one star otherwise). I really hope that the support is now fixed. Incidentally, the time issue is a known issue with the Linksys SPA2101 VOIP Modem that I was sent. They hope to have a patch to fix it in the next few weeks.
Bottom line is, if the only reason why you didnt like this company was the support (understandable), you may want to give them a go again. The Voice quality is good, and they seem to have got over the unreliability issues.
For your info here is what I pay monthly (including all taxes, hidden charges etc):
$42.66
My plan is"Unlimited W. Europe" and I have a primary phone number and a fax number (using distinctive ring)

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

2

Price:

2

Reliability:

2

Features:

3

Overall:

2

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Lingo is just terrible

Posted on:March 19th, 2012by vivabenfica

When it works it is ok. Sound was good to terrible (echos). Customer service was a joke and an insult to a human's intelligence. Many times, random calls would not work. Only inertia kept me from canceling many times. Today I did. Please learn from my errors and stay away from Lingo. Lingo is just terrible and does not even minimally value their customers

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

2

Reliability:

2

Features:

3

Overall:

1.8

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Be aware of Lingo Service!!!!

Posted on:November 9th, 2009by MR

I went through reviews and signed up ignoring all of the customer reviews. Afer two weeks of service I have experienced the same as most of the customers experiences. After three weeks, they suspended my account without letting me know what is going. I called customer service though I had to wait about 30 minutes to get live support,and asked why my service was suspended,they replied that I violated their terms and conditions and customer service didn't know what terms and conditions I violated, just told me you violated our terms.
On the other hand, I took world max service and after two weeks,they changed their calling plan ie.call only land line though mobile phone was included in this plan. They changed their policy for 2 years in stead of no contract and if you cancel within 2 years, you have to pay $99 cancellation fee. I guess they may change their calling plan after couples week and you have to give the penalty for that.I think you be careful of their service

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

3

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1.4

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Horrible Service! Look Elsewhere for VOIP!!

Posted on:September 15th, 2009by MNL

Like many people, I chose Lingo because they offered cheap pricing; however I forgot that old adage "You get what you pay for".
I haven't even started using their service and the problems became insurmountable. I followed their protocol for applying for and approving a change over from my current VOIP provider to Lingo and everything appeared to work well. I received a phone call (as I was told I would) verbally confirming my switchover and agreement to host my VOIP service with Lingo. About a week later the equipment for the new Lingo service arrived at my house; so far, so good. Then the problems began. I received an email stating that I had to provide an electronic letter of authorization or a faxed copy of the letter of authorization. I tried logging on to the Lingo website to do it electronically, when I realized I had not been provided with a Lingo user ID or password; so I printed a hard copy letter of authorization to fax in. As I was filling out this document I noticed that it required a Lingo account number. Hmmm? No user ID, no password, and no account number; I'll have to call and get it. So I call in and find out I'm too early as their business hours are 9 AM to 9 PM EST, M-F and I called at 8 AM EST; a portent of things to come.
I wait until 9 AM EST and call in; this turned out to be the first of 5 phone calls in the next 45 minutes. The first CSR after verifying my pin number begins to give me my Lingo account number; she gives me 6 of 8 digits and then disconnects the call. I'm beginning to get concerned about the service quality. Next I call back and I'm given a User ID and password to log onto the website by another CSR, who also gives me a case number. The CSR stays on the line long enough to confirm that I can access my account. When I asked him where I could find the electronic letter of authorization, he responded with "I don't know"; he said he would transfer me to someone else who might help, but during our conversation I found it under their support section of the website, it's a cryptically labeled link called 'eLOA'.
So I tell this agent that I'll try to fill it out and will call back if I need additional help. End of call number 2. I begin filling out the form and I find a requirement to provide a copy of my most recent bill (seems reasonable) which includes my name, address, phone number, service provider name and current amount. Well, I do electronic billing from my current VOIP provider, so the monthly statement I get doesn't include all of this information. So I call back again. This time the agent says hello, then hangs up the phone. (Oh no, what have I gotten myself into?) End of call number 3.
Just in case I'm having VOIP issues, I call back using my cell phone. I am once again forced to go through an explanation of why I'm calling and what I'm trying to do. When the CSR asks me for an account number, I tell him I don't have one but do have a case number. I read him the case number and he responds "Oh, I just talked to you!". (I'm getting real nervous now, I haven't even started using their service and it's already this hard?)
I explain to him my problem (my current bill doesn't provide all the information Lingo is asking for), so what do I do? Again, I get the "I don't know" response and he asks me if he can put me on hold. Before I get a chance to respond, I'm on hold; 5 minutes tick by and no answer. Finally after 8 minutes, he comes back on and tells me he's still on hold himself waiting for assistance and asks me if I can remain on hold. I told him that I couldn't as I was on my cell phone and was being charged for the minutes I'm using while on hold. So he asked if it was ok to call me back once he got someone else on the line; to which I agreed. End of phone call number 4.
Less than 2 minutes later, the same CSR calls me back and tells me to hang on a second and puts me on hold. Approximately 2 minutes later he gets back on and tells me he is still on hold and will be right back. He puts me on hold again!! I let the call run another 5 minutes before I hung up. So ends call number 5. So after 5 phone calls and 45 minutes I still have not gotten the issue resolved. Every person I spoke to was from India and having worked in the IT industry and having dealt with other customer service organizations hosted in India I know that this is only the tip of the iceberg. It has been my experience that companies from India promise the earth and the moon but just don't have the ability to deliver. I am not a racist but experience has taught me that it's only going to get worse from here. Consequently, I cannot recommend LINGO to anyone regardless of the prices they charge. What good is a low cost service if you can't use it? As a consumer, it is my opinion that there are far better service providers and it would behoove you to do your research and avoid companies like this. Perhaps in the future, Lingo will be able to provide quality service, but at present they just don't measure up

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

3

Reliability:

1

Features:

2

Overall:

1.6

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

BEWARE LINGO !

Posted on:July 5th, 2009by stingrayann

After having a harrowing experience with the Lingo customer care folks a few days ago (end June-2009), I was checking the internet to see if I was alone. To my surprise, I have come across many reviews written by people about their experiences with Lingo/Primus over the last few months. As happens most of the times, one either does not do much research on a company, products or its services when the deal looks really nice or we simply ignore any poor experience shared on the web thinking that these are either disgruntled customers and there are still many more who avail the services of the company. We forget that not everyone takes the time or makes the effort to share their experiences on the web through reviews. I appreciate those who have done this so that fellow consumers can benefit from their experiences. Its time we get wiser and not let companies get away with mis-treating customers. Only after one goes through a very poor experience does one look out and then gets shocked to see the experiences other have been through. For the benefit of others, I have put together a brief list of links that I think could help others if they are Lingo customers or do intend to become one in the future - http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=57796
http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=57730
http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=57569
http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=57559
http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=57228
http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=54316
http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=56515
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/452/RipOff0452505.htm
http://www.lingofraud.com/
http://www.voipreview.org/review/lingo
Here is one where the phone number of a senior person at Primus is available (will be helpful for those who are having issues with the company or are being given a run-around by their customer service folks)
http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=57528
Hope each of you reading this review wake up and don't burn your fingers with this company. Be ware of Lingo !!!

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

3

Reliability:

1

Features:

3

Overall:

1.8

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Pathetic Customer service

Posted on:June 27th, 2009by uwe

Customer service staff at Lingo really know how to make a customer mad. I called their customer service line to get help and did not get a resolution but only apologies. Was promised a callback but this NEVER happened. Few days later called again and wanted to speak to a supervisor. The representative failed to understand and kept asking me to tell her the issue. DID NOT GET TO SPEAK TO THE SUPERVISOR AND STILL DON'T HAVE MY ISSUE RESOLVED. Their staff are incompetent and have no clue of what they are saying ........ What is Lingo up to these days????? Their service does not work and they still expect customers to pay ....... Are they out of their mind ? There are many alternative providers out there! I checked with my colleague who referred me to Lingo and learnt that only if a call is made to their senior management do issues get re-solved. The number I was able to get is 703-902-2810. Call this number and get your issues resolved. Lingo needs to get people who know their product and how to help a customer on the phones. Maybe this will help and fix the pain the customer service department is causing

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

2

Reliability:

1

Features:

2

Overall:

1.4

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Lingo stinks

Posted on:June 25th, 2009by lingostinks

I moved to Lingo from Earthlink in 2007 and was happy with their service so far. Now Lingo takes the cake in making customers run hoops to get a simply query or issue resolved. Some orient representatives that work for them now, just don't understand and keep apologizing but cannot resolve issues. What good is a service when problems cannot be fixed???? Doesn't Lingo get this ....... or may be it is a case where they don't care what their loyal customers go through. I tried reaching their management team but could not. I am hoping that they wake up and listen before more loyal customer flee .......

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Lingo is Mafia Version of VOIP!

Posted on:June 10th, 2009by lingofraud

Back in March 2008, I decided I was getting tired of my $40+ phone bill with my landline company and decided to give Lingo VOIP a shot. They sent me the kit and I was all set up under a 1 year contract. Then the problems began! The call quality was horrible, Id say a 2 out of 10 on a quality scale plus I would get frequent dropped and lost calls. I called and complained about it and it continued to be bad. Then I had issues with the Lingo service not detecting the touch tone dial buttons from my newer phone on many different occasions when calling various companies. This issue was never resolved as well. Now the billing nightmares begin! The bills started out at around $25 but kept on creeping up to about $35 a month which was getting close to what I was paying with a landline with much better quality and service. So around November of 2008, I decided to get rid of the service but did not want to be charged a cancellation fee of $100. So, I downgraded my package to the smallest one which was supposed to be around $10 a month to hold out until March came along when I can get out of contract. Lingo continued to bill me my regular rate of $35 a month even after I downgraded! I called and complained for them to credit my account. Never done! So, I was desperately awaiting March to arrive and I cancelled and thought, finally, I get to dump this crappy company. But oh no, they decided to still charge me a cancellation fee about a month or so later! I called and complained every week for 3 weeks and they told me they would credit my account (within 3-5 days) and it was an error. They lied, still no money! Being paranoid that I was dealing with the mob version of VOIP, I cancelled my card so they wouldnt get any more ideas and bill me. I then called one last time and told them to send me a check or I will sue. Still no refund to this day!
You can view more fraudulent cases against this company at www.lingofraud.co

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

3

Reliability:

4

Features:

4

Overall:

2.6

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Charged for some incoming calls forwarded to cell phone in US

Posted on:June 2nd, 2009by jkamm

I forward all my calls to my cell phone. I just need a land line at home for the occasional calls I make out. The main reason for going with this company was that it was cheap, and I needed a custom ring for my fax (one phone line with two phone numbers). These were the only people I could find that would do that. For the last 6 months they have been charging me for SOME of the calls that are inbound that forward to my cell phone. Even with the unlimited plan they screwed up and billed me for some of the incoming calls that were forwarded to my cell. I was able to get a $6.24 credit for the calls that did that the first month... of course the didn't bother to credit me for the tax they charged. These morons should be banned from doing business in the US.
I for the last 4 months, I have called numerous times to get this resolved. Still no action. My bills have been as little as $20... and as much as $50... but one thing remains constant--I'm getting screwed EVERY month and they can't seem to make it right and I don't have time to dick around with this any more. I am switching services!!!!!!!
You think I will ever see my money?
UG

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Lingo - Bad servive, DO NOT USE

Posted on:May 25th, 2009by rmrnt

I cancelled my account in October 2008 and I have confirmation email stating that I do not have to pay cancellation fee and do not return phone adapter since I was their customer for more than a year.
Still, Lingo forwaded my account to collection angency in May 2009 and they are going to put negative feedback on my credit history for $99.95 (ninety-nine dollars and ninety-five cents).
Lingo is very bad.
Do not use this service.
They do not honor their own email communication of cancellation of service.
Account Number: 84021285.
Lingo Number: 16094540746

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE!!!!

Posted on:May 11th, 2009by shttrbg1982

This has to be one of the WORST telephone experiences I've ever experienced...
I signed up for service in February of 2008. Most of the time it was difficult to get calls in and out. The tech support reps told me that my internet connection was not fast enough to support the service. I'm using near the top tier cable package at 9MB that my local provider offers. At the same time, speed results show more than adequate bandwidth.
Then, around 12/2008 my service stopped working altogether. Can't get a call in and out. Was again told it was my internet provider. A bunch of bunk.
Finally, in February of this year, I opted to cancel the service, riding out the remainder of my 12-month service agreement to avoid their contract cancellation penalties.
This only resulted in collection efforts on behalf of their company, stating that I had a 24-month service agreement when my original contract stated only 12-months. Trying to get any kind of service from these people is like pulling teeth.
I sit here, again, on the phone to get Lingo to correct their mess.
The only reason I gave this company 1 out of 5 stars is because 0 wasn't an option for the review. I strongly, strongly, strongly advise everyone to stay far away from this service

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

2

Reliability:

2

Features:

3

Overall:

1.8

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Lingo: STAY AWAY

Posted on:April 13th, 2009by chsdi

This has been the worst phone experience of my life. I'm paying more than I would for Vonage and getting Lingo reps who contradict each other every time I call. I was told I could have an account and put another line on the account for free. Not 1 (they're charging my account for a second line).
I've spent more than 11 hours on the phone with Lingo over the last 35 days because evidently, I can pay money for the second number but it isn't supposed to work unless I sign up for another account (can't call in our out on the phone number). However, customer service and tech support have tried to get the number to work--the billing dept says it never will. Customer service says it's a technical issue-- Tech says the number wasn't "ported over" properly. The customer service rep said the line won't work correctly until I cancel my previous provider. The next tech rep says it isn't working corretly because I cancelled my previous provider....
The line works IF another Lingo user calls from their Lingo account (which makes me wonder why the customer service person said the line would never work!)
STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!
If you go with them anyway, you should know they will assign you a phone number even if you are transferring one to them. Then you must CANCELL the phone number or they will start charging you for it (I didn't even know I they'd assigned one! I asked a rep about it, and he said it was included in the "terms and conditions." I read those through twice and never found anything about getting a "temp" number assigned to me that I would have to cancel

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Lingo service

Posted on:February 5th, 2009by grelber

Awful service. Connection quality within the US was terrible - couldn't hear well enough to even have a conversation. The network connection for receiving calls would not stay up. Price for foreign calls steadily ratcheted up. And then, after giving up on the service, they jammed me for payment for months of service that I wasn't using.
Avoid them!andnbsp

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

3

Price:

3

Reliability:

3

Features:

5

Overall:

3

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

OK But a Couple of Things to Watch Out For

Posted on:November 25th, 2008by Kevin

Have been with Lingo for over 3 years and have 4 lines. One was the business unlimited line with free fax line.Have alwayshad trouble with this asabout 50% of faxes won't connect properly, with many fax machines just refusing to connect no matter how many times I try. Now just found out from my DSL phone company that VOIP doesn't work very well fordata calls. Theysaid"everyone knows that" (exceptme). So I changed the plan back to a single unlimited line and use ATandT for the fax line. I noticed also that Lingo doesn't call the extra line a fax line anymoreon their web-site. Obviously limiting their liability. On the plus side however, they are much better than Vonage for included countries andinternational local numbers. The problem that I have is their call costs for overseas mobiles. I forward one line to my international cell when I travel but it costs alot when I get calls. The other VOIP providers are about 30% of their rates forthese calls.andnbsp

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

5

Price:

3

Reliability:

5

Features:

5

Overall:

3.8

Would Recommend to a friend.

lingo

Posted on:November 21st, 2008by christinexoxodillon

we took it to st.maarten and it worked fine. works better in the states. Customer service will drive you mad if you ever forget your pin number you will loss you mind talk to people in India that don't get it. I gave up and am shoping for a new service becasue I lost my pin and they are just too stupid to help and willing to let me walk away. Lingo works great had it for several year

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

4

Sound Quality:

5

Price:

5

Reliability:

5

Features:

5

Overall:

4.8

Would Recommend to a friend.

Haven't let me down for the past 5 years

Posted on:November 21st, 2008by cmorriss

Lingo was one of the first large scale VOIP providers out there and their experience shows. I've been with them for 5 years and during that time, the service has been rock solid. Clear loud calls that haven't dropped. The best thing about Lingo is what you get for the price. For the same or less than what others charge, you get free calls to western Europe and Australia. Additionally, you can get a phone number in another country that connects to your home phone for $10 a month. I can't tell you how much this has saved us as my wife is from Italy and spends hours on the phone with her mom and sister every week. Having a local number in Italy, it allows her family to call us from their cell phone, which is great considering her mom has no land line. Also, we've moved several times while with Lingo and it has been so nice to not only keep our old number for a while, but get a new local number that also rings our phone! Makes transitioning to a new number MUCH easier

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

2

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1.2

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Pathetic Fraudulent Service I have ever see!!!

Posted on:November 5th, 2008by sameerkasal

After looking at their lucrative prices, I had selected lingo as home phone service provider. At the time of booking, agent promised me a moon and infact she told me to send a formal e-mail containing all the terms and conditions which she was explaining to me, which I never got from them after staring the service. Later on I came to know from their customer service is that, there was no mention of any special offer in my account, which booking personnel offered to me. Not a problem, I started the service in the hope to get good reliable service with a good price. Later I came to know, my decision was not right at all. The problems started since the very first day and later on I decided to cancel service after a month but still I have been charged even though my service has been cancelled 4 months back. I wanted to explain the whole story in detail, so that at least few people can save themselves with these frauds.
1. The day I ordered them for their service, they had started billing the very same day. Even though I got the equipment after a week from the booking date. They charged me unnecessarily for a week without giving any explaination.
2. The voice quality is really pathetic and does not worth even 1/5. Also their technical support is pathetic and just a waste of time. They dont know anything and dont provide any solution. Most of the time, they will put you on hold for 10 mins and suddenly you will find they disconnect the call. Its the worst voice quality and worst customer care I have ever seen.
3. Real problem starts, when you ask them to cancel your service. I had asked them to cancel the service within the trial period itself but still they charged me a months fee. Also they asked me to return their equipment. After returning the equipment, they told me that they will refund me the activation fee, which I got after a month cancelling the service. Now real pain starts from here. I cancelled my Lingo service on Jul-2nd 2008. The moment I asked them for the cancellation, they disabled my account and online protal access. They did not send me any invoice for the charges which they appied as the last month charges.
After cancelling the service, they charged my bank account with $64.84 in Aug. I did not get information from Lingo about this and later while checking my bank account I came to know about this. I talked to their customer service, first they tried to justify this by saying that its the disconnection fee which I need to pay. When I reminded them that I have cancelled the service within 30 days trial and retruned back the equipment, I am not entitled for this fee. Then they agreed to refund $59.95 out of $64.84. FOr the remianing amount they did not give me any satisfactory reason and simply said its for some out of plan call charges. I asked them for the invoice, which they did not provided and said they dont send invoice. I can check it thier online portal (for which they already disabled my account at the same momnet I asked them for cancellation). Since it was a small amount I did not take it further and left the issue at that point only. They told me that this is the last time my account had been charged. Now the biggest surprise...
Yesterday (Nov 3rd 2008), while checking my bank account, I came to know Lingo again charged my bank account for $1.72 (3months after cancellation). I again called their pathetic service and wasted more than half an hour. The guy told me that this is for some out of the plan call which I made in July before cancelling the service. I told him, for that they have already charged me around $5 and whats the point in coming back after 3-4 months. In fact I am ready to pay, if they are ready to send me invoice. The support guy refused to send me invoice but somehow I could manage to find out the number for which they are charging me this time. He told me that the charges are for a number 877-xxx-xxxx. I told him this is a toll free number and later on he was also agree with it. Then he told me I wll apply for a credit and I will get a refund in 2 weeks. He again promised me that this is the last time and they will not charge my account again.
Considering the fact, they are doing this deliberately as if you call them and insist they are ready to refund back the amount. In case if you dont check your bank account on regular basis and dont call them they are not going to refund the money back. Its a big risk if you give your credit card details to them.
Yesterday, I reported the matter to my bank. The simple solution they suggested me to report my card as stolen and issued a new card with new number. I hope now I should be able to get rid of these bunch of crooks.
My request to all of my friends please beware of these frauds and never give them your credit card/bank account details

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Posted on:October 18th, 2008by yogibaps

Lingo is the worst provider to sign for your service.After I applied for service back in 09/26/08 there was no service contract.Than I recevid a e mail on oct.17saying that I am bound for 2 years contract with $99.95 cancelation fee that they introduces in oct. 08.I tried to speak to some one at Lingo but they refuse to spek to me c'us they don;t have the person in cancelation dept. to speak to me.I have not even hoked up their phone modem (adeptor) and not even started to use the phone,and decided to cancel their service.They have already charged my account, I hope I can get my refund.I am going back to Vonage. andnbsp

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

3

Reliability:

2

Features:

2

Overall:

1.8

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

CHEATS.

Posted on:October 18th, 2008by thanga_babu

RTFA. Yes please read the agreement. It comes with 2 things you might want to notice.
1. Cancellation before one year is $60
2. Lingo can change the agreement anytime they wish. When I signed it came with 1year contract and a cancellation fee of $60. 7 months into the contract, they increased the contract term to 2 years and the cancellation fees to $100. This information was emailed and subsribers were given 3 days to agree and continue or cancel at $60. (This was emailed on a Friday evening so you had 1 business day to cancel your account and port your number to a different carrier).and These guys are a total rip-off. And there are numerous incidents of over charging and charging after service cancellation

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

2

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

1

Reliability:

2

Features:

2

Overall:

1.6

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

beware

Posted on:October 17th, 2008by george

They increased the taxes without knowledge. This company really su..... They are charging 13 dollars as tax.the plan is 21.99 + 13 tax = 34.99.Thay are going to upgrade service agreement for 24 months Any one who is signing with them will be tied up for two years same like mobile phones.Lingo is not a good enough to upgrade 24 months contract.any one who is with lingo please cancel or you will be tied up with this crocodile.Dont sign with this company.this is my humble request.

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

2

Price:

3

Reliability:

2

Features:

1

Overall:

1.8

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Lingo changing their contract to charge cancellation fees

Posted on:October 17th, 2008by sp00

Check out this email I got from Lingo today. If this is not more reason to leave Lingo now, then best of luck to you!
There must be some sort of law or something, they can't enforce this to already existing customers, can they?
=========================
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lingo Customer Care Date: Fri, Oct 17, 2008 Subject: Important Notification Regarding Your Lingo Service To: xxxx
Dear Customer, We appreciate your business with Lingo, and hope that you are availing and enjoying all its benefits! We would like to inform you of updated terms and conditions of your Lingo service. Effective October 23, 2008, customers who cancel their Lingo service within 24 months of the activation date, will be subject to a $99.95 cancellation fee per account. To view Lingoandrsquo;s Terms and Conditions, please visit Lingo.com and click on the Terms and Conditions link at the bottom of the page. Should you have any questions about the new term, please contact us at 1-888-LINGO-99.
Sincerely, Lingo.com
Primus Telecommunications | 7901 Jones Branch Dr | McLean, VA, 22102 | US andnbsp

Lingo - Poor customer service, bad billing practices, so so phone service
I've had made a terrible decision to take my Sunrocket number to Lingo. At the time, it seemed that Lingo provided a good safe reliable solution after Sunrocket went bust. I've had many issues with Lingo since day 1 and after a few months, I finally decided to move on to a different provider. I have not took the time out to write a review earlier, but after my latest experience, I had to write this review to help others decide.
I've been a user for various VOIP services for several years now, starting with Vonage, to AOL, to SunRocket, and most recently with Lingo and Viatalk - I've experienced all of these for at least 6 months each.
Here are some of the issues I've had with Lingo in the last year: Took them over 1 week to port my number, okay, this is not too bad, given that at the time they were probably flooded with Sunrocket customers.
I had to call them twice to get the month free and shipping credit they promised in their promotion for Sunrocket customers. It seemed that I would have not got the credit at all if I hadn't called.
I've had numerous repeated problems regarding the incoming caller id not displaying the correct time (different timezone). I called support several times initially to get it fixed, they changed it to 3 hours ahead instead of 3 hours back even after I explained I live on east coast. This setting got corrupted several times and after going through waiting on support numerous times to get it resolved, we just got tired and got used to the time difference on the caller id logs.
The people in their callcenter (India) literally are reading from a manual. It is difficult to get resolution on problems - it typically takes 2-3 times to explain something to get it resolved correctly.
Lingo's online feature portal is garbage. It is so unintuitive and difficult to use -- you actually need to do trial and error to understand how to use their system. This is enough reason for not signing up for their service! Over the year I had the service, I have not seen one change to their online system. One would expect providers to continually update their service package -- especially since the website is so out of date compared to its competitors.
Their website is not kept up-to-date either - their are links that no longer work correctly.
I sent an email to customercare@lingo.com from my gmail account -- only for it to bounce back after several retries gmail made over 2 days. If you see Lingo's website, they tell you to use this email address.
Last week, I ported my number from Lingo to Viatalk. Viatalk is very nice (more on this later). But here's the deal - after my number was successfully ported (took 6 days) to viatalk - I sent an email to Lingo customer service to confirm my account was canceled and to remove my credit card on file. After a few days, that email bounced back, so I tried sending them an online message from another page I found on their website. After 1 day, this was the response I received:
=============================================== Dear S- Thank you for contacting Lingo Customer Care. Please be adviced that Lingo accounts are not automatically cancelled after numbers are transferred. For your security, we are unable to cancel your account by email. Please call 1-888-LINGO-99 (546-4699) and select the cancellation option. Agents are available to assist you from Mon-Fri, 9 AM-9 PM, EST and Sat-Sun, 9 AM-5 PM, EST. Your account will remain active and you will be responsible for charges until we receive your call. We look forward to helping you with any servicing needs in the future. Sincerely, Lingo Customer Care =============================================== Before I sent them the request to cancel, I looked around their website to find information on how to cancel with no luck (if they do, it is well hidden that even their search won't pull it up). Worse is that I was unable to delete my credit card on file from their website (if you're a current lingo customer, I urge you to remove your automatic credit card payment to be safe when you change providers). Aside from the obvious spelling mistakes in their email - Who wants to keep their service after porting your ONLY line on their account? This was ridiculous - I immediately called that number to confirm my account was canceled. When I asked them whether they will refund my last payment, they denied it saying that they bill once a month starting on the 1st, so if I didn't cancel by the previous 22nd of the month, I am responsible for the entire month following! My number was ported on Oct 1, yet they still charged me for full month Oct 1-31st! This is very disappointing to hear, I would have planned changing my providers a bit better if I had known this earlier. I would understand that if I had used most of the month that it was too much to get a refund, but I didn't even use the service for 1 full day of the month yet they are not willing to credit partially! If this wasn't enough to make you from signing on with Lingo or discontinuing their service, every 1-2 weeks my phone would just stop working, no interruption of service from my broadband provider. I would have to unplug and restart their lingo adapter every time. This shows how reliable it was! Good luck on choosing your VOIP provider. I've just converted to Viatalk last week, so far so good - I'll write a review about it after I use it for a bit more. For one thing, their website feature management portal is WAY better!
andnbsp

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

4

Sound Quality:

4

Price:

5

Reliability:

4

Features:

5

Overall:

4.4

Would Recommend to a friend.

Good overall experience over the last 3+ years

Posted on:September 12th, 2008by westly197

I've used Lingo for over 3 years now, and have been happy with their service for the most part. When I initially started the service I had intermittent quality issues, times when you dial and nothing happens, andoccasional drops. I called support a few times and they seemed quite knowledgeable and were able to resolve most of the issues with some adjustments to the equipment. I had been able to send faxes over the line originally, but have had little luck the last few years. My Dish Network satellite equipment also has not been able to communicate over the line much of the time, but this is no longer an issue for me now that my new receivers have network jacks (Dish charge you more if the equipment is not able to communicate). The features offered by lingo and some of the other providers canandrsquo;t be beat. I thing the simultaneous ring is the best feature yet. I only give people my home number, and when they call it rings my home and cell phone at the same time! I can answer on either line as if the were both the same line. Which ever I answer first gets the call and the caller ID information is also shown on my cell phone. I think you can have multiple numbers all get the calls. Lingo also offers an option to have your voicemails emailed to you, another great feature! Lingo does work with phones supporting a message light as well, I have Uniden phones and the message light comes on when I have a voicemail. Lingo of course has all the other features you would expect.
As far as voice quality it is almost always perfect, better then my phone company lines were. I still had occasional glitches, but after getting new equipment just this week it seems they are now gone. About a year ago I called for support and got India, the support person was of no help and the problem resolved itandrsquo;s self mostly. Just recently I wanted to switch to an annual plan to save a few dollars a month, the support person said I canandrsquo;t switch. He said I could open a new account, transfer my old Lingo number to the new account, and then cancel the old one. He transferred me and I processed the order. When I called back to see where the phone number transfer was at, I was told andldquo;we canandrsquo;t transfer a lingo number. It was India again and I explained that both tech support and the order taker had said it could be. I said I need to cancel the new number if my number canandrsquo;t be transferred. He said cancellations is closed, he will have them call me in the following morning. Three days and no call so I called again, sat on hold for 45 minutes and then was transferred to voicemail. I requested a call back and mentioned I had been promised a call back 3 days before. Again, no call back, so I tried to call cancellations 5 times but it would not even transfer through. I called a tech support guy and he also could not get through to them, but said he logged it in the system and I would not be charged if I was late on the cancellation because they didnandrsquo;t call me back in time. A few days passed and I tried again, got through after 2 minutes on hold. The verified what had been logged and said they CAN transfer the number, but only a special department can do it, they would call me back in two days. Four days later I got a call and the lady said she could transfer my number now, I said ok, and she said she would call me back when it was done. Fifteen minutes later I got the call it was complete and do I want to cancel my old line and second number on the new line. I said yes and she did it all on the spot. I logged in online and verified my new account had my old number and the old account was gone. So yes I had some trouble getting to the right person, but once I did the support was excellent. I know a lot of companies seem to work this way, had the same thing happen with HP, bad support from India, but once you get past that to a real HP employee the support is excellent. So in closing I would recommend Lingo and I rate them well overall. Unlimited free calls, and all the features you could ever want. Iandrsquo;ve messed with Magic Jack, not bad for the price ($40 start, then 20 a year), but lacks flexibility, features, requires your computer to be on, and is a bit flakey with intermittent quality issues. In contrast I would not recommend Sprint (PCS), worst customer support and accounting errors Iandrsquo;ve ever experienced (Equipment worked well, just billing and customer service was bad). I had more problems with Pacific Bell land lines then Iandrsquo;ve had with my Lingo VoIP service and itandrsquo;s really nice to keep my service and number through moves! Hope this helps!
andnbsp

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Abysmal customer service

Posted on:September 8th, 2008by waderpro

Customer service is abysmal. They are very friendly and helpful when you sign up. After that, you are routed to a call center in ndia where they read canned responses. I cancelled after 1 month. Unable to port number as promised. Assigned an area code out of my area, wanted me to pay for an additional number to get an area code in my area. AVOID!!!

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

1

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

lingo is the hotel california

Posted on:September 7th, 2008by tmo

I have lingo at home, and 4 lingo lines at the office. I have used lingo for years. Following my advice, my boss ordered home service from lingo. My co-worker also uses lingo--he is the one who advised me to switch to lingo.
At home I have been with them for years and I do not have problems--the service is great, reliable, cheap.
At work our four lines work great. Everything is customizable and their customer service used to be excellent--I used to talk to helpful customer service reps mainly from canada. Now they have switched to customer service people in India, and it is simply atrocious. The customer service reps have not one shred of mercy for the customer. Their only concern is to eke the last pennies from your dying hands.
The real problem is their billing department. My boss ordered two lingo lines, cancelled them, sent their adapter machines back, yet lingo continued to bill him for about a year for one of the adapters until he finally resolved it (I believe by paying them).
I have not tried to cancel my home service so I haven't had any problem.
When I ordered my 4 business lines, they have a referral program which I tried to use to credit my home account--guess what, they never credited my home which they should have done. I should have had 4 free months, but I never got any.
I ordered an additional 3 lines at work because we were expanding (on top of our 4 main lines). I had never used the additional 3 lines (other than to test the adapters when I got them), and our business decided to return the lingo adapters. When I did that, they tried to charge me about $70 per line. I spent literally hours on the phone with them, "escalating" my request that they not charge me so much in light of the fact that we have so many accounts through them. They agreed to waive the $70 per line on condition that I return the 3 adapters, and all along the Indian customer service reps assured me they had annulled my other bills. There was tons of unnecessary nonsense on their part, asking me for tracking numbers on each of the adapters (I mean come on, this company that provides me the ability to call anywhere in the world at a moment's notice for minimal cost over years on end is not competent to know when they have received an adapter I have sent them? Would they like my help building a database? Get real). I had assiduously kept records of my sending the adapters because of my boss' previous experience with his cancelled line--i had even packaged each adapter separately and used separate fed-ex ground tracking numbers for each adapter. Finally they admitted they had received the adapters. Despite this, the next time I called I had to walk through all of that again.
Then finally after I thought all of that business was finished, I started getting additional bills on those 3 accounts. I wrote emails to them explaining that everything should be even now. They responded "sorry but you have to pay." I sent another angry email saying no i don't. They never responded or offered any proof that I had not received assurances that my accounts were clear. Now I am getting bills from a collection agency in my own name at my office for the 3 lingo lines.
Take it from me, stay away from Lingo. Better to pay more to ATandT than to have these pirates at your door. From what I have heard Vonage is the same bunch of Hotel California dirtbags. I just wish to find an honest VOIP company because VOIP really is the future, especially with their cheap prices.
I gave Lingo 1/5 on all parameters because the billing problems I have had with them, in which they have been both recalcitrant, dishonest, and aggressively unfair, have destroyed my enjoyment of their quality product. I am now hoping there will be a nuclear war that will destroy India, and that a gang of prison rapists will attack and sodomize the workers at the Lingo corporate offices, transmitting nasty venereal diseases to their nasty traitorous dirty pirate rear ends

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

3

Sound Quality:

0

Price:

4

Reliability:

4

Features:

2

Overall:

2.6

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

a challenge to cancel service

Posted on:September 5th, 2008by flores

We had Lingo service for four years. For the price, it was satisfactory, and customer service generally helpful. When we decided to switch to a package plan including TV and internet from another provider, it was difficult to determine how to cancel the Lingo service. Calling customer care, one has an option to cancel but that phone is never answered and calls not returned. There is no provision for cancelling online. We left a message that we wanted to cancel service but have been billed for a month of service we never had. Now that bill is with a collection agency that assures me we will be reported and our credit damaged. Thanks a lot Lingo

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

4

Reliability:

1

Features:

1

Overall:

1.6

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Lingo Service

Posted on:September 4th, 2008by mstryker

Lingo Set-up is totally messed-up. They scheduled transfer of service (ported number) for 9.4.08. Notified me by email and themon 9.4.08 anyone calling my phone get's a network message that it is 'not in service.' Lingo Customer Service couldn't seem to understand teh problem and transferred my to their Transfer Dept. The agent at the transfer dept. told me the number was transferred to Lingo but it would be 24 hours or more before it was activated. This is completely unacceptable and unprofessional. The Customer Service agents are useless. They don't understand even simple issues and are seemingly prohibited from resolving any issue that they do finally understand. When I called to start the service I spoke with an American. After that everyone was from India. I can't understand why Primus can't get it's act together

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

2

Sound Quality:

5

Price:

5

Reliability:

5

Features:

5

Overall:

4.4

Would Recommend to a friend.

Lingo Review

Posted on:August 8th, 2008by Krish

TO BE SURE....don't mess around with VoIP UNLESS YOU HAVE A SOLID BROADBAND INTERNET CONNECTION with atleast 384kb/s UPstream bandwidth (many residentialISP's promise a lot of DOWNstream/downloadspeed butdon't talk abouttheir upstream). Without a reliable broadband internet connection, you will be amongst those completely frustrated.TO ALSO BE SURE...avoid using wireless in-home connection for your VoIP 'adapter'. Wireless may be convenient..but is not as reliable as a wired connection from the VoIP adapter to the home's main router that is typically provided by the ISP.THIRDLY, it helps to have the main router and the VoIP adapter plugged into a UPS (a $40 investment will go a long way in absorbing any power glitches that you may encounter during thunderstorms and such). This will increase robustness.I have FiOS Internet and done all of the above and have had NO PROBLEMS whatsoever with Lingo VoIP.Now, as far as saving money is concerned- that depends on your long distance and international calling pattern. I make a lot of internation calls and VoIP hassaved me substantial dollars. I could have used a regular land linein combination with acalling card but I chose VoIP. VoIP comes with many added features such as the ability to retrieve your voicemails via the Internet, etc.The other VoIP providers I have tried are Vonage, ViaTalk, and Packet8. Vonage and ViaTalk are passable, but Lingo beat them in voice quality and reliability.

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

2

Sound Quality:

5

Price:

5

Reliability:

5

Features:

5

Overall:

4.4

Would Recommend to a friend.

LINGO VOIP ACTUALLY WORKS!

Posted on:August 7th, 2008by Krish

TO BE SURE....don't mess around with VoIP UNLESS YOU HAVE A SOLID BROADBAND INTERNET CONNECTION with atleast 384kb/s UPstream bandwidth (many residentialISP's promise a lot of DOWNstream/downloadspeed butdon't talk abouttheir upstream). Without a reliable broadband internet connection, you will be amongst those completely frustrated.
TO ALSO BE SURE...avoid using wireless in-home connection for your VoIP 'adapter'. Wireless may be convenient..but is not as reliable as a wired connection from the VoIP adapter to the home's main router that is typically provided by the ISP.
THIRDLY, it helps to have the main router and the VoIP adapter plugged into a UPS (a $40 investment will go a long way in absorbing any power glitches that you may encounter during thunderstorms and such). This will increase robustness.
I have FiOS Internet and done all of the above and have had NO PROBLEMS whatsoever with Lingo VoIP.
Now, as far as saving money is concerned- that depends on your long distance and international calling pattern. I make a lot of internation calls and VoIP hassaved me substantial dollars. I could have used a regular land linein combination with acalling card but I chose VoIP. VoIP comes with many added features such as the ability to retrieve your voicemails via the Internet, etc.
The other VoIP providers I have tried are Vonage, ViaTalk, and Packet8. Vonage and ViaTalk are passable, but Lingo beat them in voice quality and reliability. STAY AWAY FROM PACKET 8 at all costs! Service sucks (busy tones, fax problems, dropped calls, etc.) and the customer service is worse

Worst Customer Support

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

3

Sound Quality:

3

Price:

4

Reliability:

4

Features:

3

Overall:

3.4

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

LINGO's doing great for me...

Posted on:July 30th, 2008by VoIP_user

Enough w/ the negative comments, LINGO's doing great for me.Unbeatable price, wonderful features such as the unbelievable countries i can call, even the calling features i get for free. With the other customers, imagine they've used the service for 3 years then thats the only time they complain? The other one's saying that they cancelled after a year??? If the service really sucks how come it took a while for you to cancel it? That means it is indeed a good service sinceyou've used it for a while right?! In terms of reliability, im not getting issues about it as well. Ive read from an article that VoIP primarily depends on the quality of your internet provider. If you have a reliable one then there's no problem in terms of quality of sound. Im w/ a CABLE provider and not having any issues about it. Anyways, the only thing that i can say is that im perfectly satisfied w/ LINGO. I was able to free myself from the horrors of ATandT wherein they charge me a lot w/ all this diffirent taxes that im not even aware and they cant even explain what its for. So, im not going to be affected by all these negative comments

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

2

Price:

3

Reliability:

2

Features:

3

Overall:

2.2

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Lingo VOIP -- STAY AWAY

Posted on:July 27th, 2008by jjees

Just canceled Lingo service after 3 years. Various problems with router, replaced 3 times via Lingo and had to power off and reset the then many times. Quality of the connection varied, most of the time it was ok. The big pain was coustomer service. You will get a service agent in India pretty quick (not to long of a wait time) to help with technical issues. However, when I went to cancel, holy crap! The service rep in India said that he needed to transfer me to the cancellation department (he couldn't cancel the account)......20 minutes later he came back on the line and said "I'm sorry, the cancellation department is closed on Saturdays". He asked for a phone number that he could give them so that they would call me back first thing on Monday. I gave him my cell number and by Wednesday....no call. I called again and this time after being on hold for 10 minutes the rep said that the line was very busy (I see why now, lots of people trying to cancel Lingo). He gave me the cancellation direct line ( a 1-800 number). When I finally got through (on Friday!!)....it was an American! My account was canceled immediately (I think). Unbelievable that it took a week to get my account canceled. For all you thinking about Lingo........STAY AWAY

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

3

Reliability:

1

Features:

3

Overall:

1.8

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Voice quality is poor, customer service is a hassle

Posted on:June 19th, 2008by losgatosuser

The VOIP service from Lingo was never very clear, and not reliable. After a year, we cancelled.
When we cancelled, they told us that we needed to cancel 10 days prior to the end of our billing cycle or we would be charged another months service. So beware of this term on their contract. Also, when you cancel they turn you off immediately, even though you may have paid through the end of your billing cycle. I don't think that's very fair. Customer service is in India and they follow a script. It's sometimes difficult to understand them

This review is the subjective opinion of the user and not of The-Digest or VoIP Review.

Customer Service:

1

Sound Quality:

1

Price:

3

Reliability:

3

Features:

3

Overall:

2.2

Would Not Recommend to a friend.

Erroneous Billing Practices

Posted on:May 24th, 2008by phoneuser

I have used Lingo service for over a year and did not have any problems until I started using prepaid phone cards to make international calls to destinations not included in my plan. To my dismay, I was billed by lingo for making these calls. Attmepts made to clarify and remedy this erroneous billing practice fell on deaf ears and the 1 rude nature of the customer support service came to light. The practice of billing someone for using a prepaid phone card to make an international call is illegal, and should becategorized as theft by Lingo. If Lingo does not understand the concept ofusing prepaid phone caards to make calls then theyare in the wrong business. This kind ofrip off has got to stop.Lingo shouldearn its income legally. You cannot bill a client fora call made using a prepaid phone card. My business is gone toa competitorandnbsp

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The Digest Today Let’s face it, there are endless amounts of information on the Internet covering every aspect of the Telecommunications Industry. So much in fact, it can be outright discouraging trying to determine the most suitable long distance carrier or how VOIP might really benefit your home...Read More »